Ferunus
The Forge World Ferunus is one of the most influential planets in the Azuran Sector of the Segmentum Pacificus, and the only Forge World of the sector. Settled less than two millennia ago by the remnants of a large Martian Explorator fleet seeking refuge after a devastating journey through the warp and harrowing encounters with daemons that shaped the founders of the world into a distinctly new culture, it has grown rapidly into a major regional industrial powerhouse in the Segmentum and is known for its aggressive exploration, examination, and destruction of xenos ruins across the galaxy as well as possessing several rare STCs. It is slightly larger than the size of Neptune in the Sol system, and covered primarily in a sparsely vegetated tundra with a breathable atmosphere. History Founded by a Martian Arch-Magos Dominus, Aeschylus Leander, the inheritor to leadership of an Explorator fleet to the Western fringes of the Segmentum Pacificus in conjunction with a shadowy Ordo Mechanicum Inquisitor, the Adeptus Mechanicus forces that departed did so in 671.M38, yet only arrived at the Mandeville Point in the system that would be named Ferunus in 783.M38. The fleet had been lost in the Immaterium and suffered multiple Gellar Field failures in what they described as nearly two thousand years of travel recorded by Terran days on their voidship chronometers. Within this long and harrowing journey, many ships of the fleet were lost, and those that remained each banded together to form a distinctly different culture from that of Mars, as well as a new sub-cult of the Cult Mechanicus which placed great emphasis on defending the mind and body against the enemies of the Omnissiah surrounding them within the warp: the Cult of Pure Animus. Generations of leaders and Skitarii soldiers were born, lived, and died among the millions of crew of the fleet. When they finally found an exit from the warp into an unsettled Subsector of the Azuran Sector, they discovered their trip had only taken 112 years in realspace time and seized upon the chance to enact the "Omega Dagger Directive" conceived by the First Elder Magi and the now-legendary Inquisitor Thenarius during the Harrowing of the Explorator Fleet - a bold and ambitious plan to fight back at what the first generation of Ferunum realized was the true threat to the human mind and soul that the Machine God chose to be the recipients of its blessings. Without wasting even a day, the fleet identified the massive, relatively temperate (if cold, rocky, and often icy) tundra-dominated world of Ferunus as being capable of being rendered hospitable to life with minimal atmospheric processing. Its largest peak, a mountain christened Ontol Mons, was the landing site for the fleet and its remaining forgeships. It soon made contact with the relatively nearby Adeptus Astartes world of Azuran, home to the Ordinators Space Marine Chapter. To their concern, they found that the Ordinators themselves were seemingly fixated on the warp, Chaos, and their corruptive capabilities and suffered a blockade while the chapter and an Ordo Malleus and Hereticus Conclave fell upon their new forge-city and vetted its occupants for corruption - only to find that the adherents to the Cult of Pure Animus had long ago learned to detect and eliminate those of their ranks who had begun to show signs of spiritual, mental, or corporeal Chaotic corruption using various new and old technological processes and equipment. The two came to an accord quickly after purity among the founders of Forge World Ferunus was verified, and the dominant Inquisitorial Conclave in the Sector began to reach out to the Segmentum Pacificus forge worlds of Artemia Major, Urdesh, and Stygies. Within four centuries, with the aid of its fellow Adeptus Mechanicus kindred forge worlds and the Ordinators' frequent deliveries of rescued Imperial citizens taken from various warzones across the Imperium, a thriving system of forges, mines, and other critical facility-cities were founded across the barren and cold tundra of Ferunus. In time, the population grew to outstrip the capability of the Forge World to provide and find use for them, and the survivors were given to newly constructed, hermetically sealed Hive Cities on its barely hospitable moon, Aroth (which, in time, would grow to both feed the need for human bodies and minds of Ferunus, as well as depending on it for countless necessities and structural expansion). By M40, Forge World Ferunus had grown to the status of a full Adeptus Mechanicus military power in the Segmentum Pacificus with aid from the forge worlds Mars, Stygies, and Graia, primarily. It began its first dispatching of Explorator Fleets tasked with enforcing subdirective tasks of the mysterious "Omega Dagger Directive". Forge World Ferunus Skitarii, Robotica, and occasionally Titans, began to scour the unknown expanses forming gaps in the known and settled Imperium seeking information often found in the ruins of worlds once belonging to extinct xenos civilizations. They began to become known for leaving the planets they explored utterly annihilated, often breaking them up through multi-stage melta core detonator torpedoes from their dread Ark Mechanicus, the Omega Katheron. This crusade has proven to have no end in sight, and its leader was afforded a rank equivalent to a Fabricator-Locum on another Forge World. His or her importance so great that a system of two Fabricator-Loci were emplaced to ensure the triple duties of Forge World industrial Production, the Cult Mechanicus' Quest for Knowledge, and the Cult of Pure Animus' Omega Dagger Directive were never neglected. Geography, Habitability, & Infrastructure Ferunus is a large world, several times the size of Holy Terra and Sacred Mars combined. It exceeds the planet Neptune in size slightly, coming in at 51,104km in diameter. Its surface is composed of 62% water, with several inland freshwater seas and a single, large ocean that surrounds a tremendously large single continent. Though a cold planet by Imperial standards, it is far from a Death World. A suitably thick atmosphere and air composed of 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, 1% carbon dioxide, and 1% various other gasses make for a near Terran-like standard of breathable air that allows life to exist. Vegetation is relatively sparse due to a low amount of precipitation over much of the planet and very cold winters, and the planet's fauna largely consists of small, furred herd animals and various canid-like predators no larger than the wolves of ancient Terran evolutionary history. A thick crust stretching more than 70km beneath the surface has been proven to contain millions of kilotons of mineable mineral resources in the relatively small portion of the world that had been surveyed by early M42. It is highly mountainous, and within these mountain regions the first settlements of the world were established - primarily among the equator. Thousands of kilometers of mag-lev train tunnels have been built under the surface to connect the widely distributed 12 settlement-facilities of the world holding the 355,000,000 people living on it, all located in a large nexus with one corner adjacent to the sea. A large orbital defense network is overlaid in atmosphere over the planet. Politics, Culture, & Dogma Forge World Ferunus utilizes an unusual governing system as a result of the unique nature of their founding connection to the Ordos Mechanicus, Xenos, and Malleus. As a result of their frequent exposure to artifacts of the warp in their role as finders, cataloguers, and destroyers or containers of baleful warp techno-sorcery, they have have a triumvirate of a Fabricator-General and the two lesser triumvirs that fulfill the traditional role of lieutenants to the administrator of the world that would be filled by a single individual (the Fabricator-Locum) in a traditional Forge World hierarchical structure - the Fabricator-Syntir and the Fabricator-Ziton. The Fabricator-General acts as the senior member tasked with the synergy of the Forge World's various technological, industrial, and ideological goals, the position currently being held by Aressios Olexion. The Fabricator-Ziton is responsible for the exploration and purgation of xenos and warp-based technological caches and recovery of STCs - currently Klymene Lazarus. The Fabricator-Syntir is responsible for the cataloging and protection of sensitive data pertaining to both technology and the warp - currently Olysseia Orpheus. Major decisions affecting the entirety of Forge World Ferunus must be approved by a majority of the triumvirs, though each has primacy in their own sphere of responsibility. A Fabricator-Locum position does exist, though its officeholder is limited to maintaining production quotas, increasing efficiency, and growth in manufacturing and manpower generation. This is a unique state of affairs as most Forge Worlds rely on a single Fabricator-Locum assisting an autocratic Fabricator-General. Both the Cult Mechanicus and the Cult of Pure Animus act as state religions on Ferunus, with no heresy (particularly towards the tenets of the Cult of Pure Animus) tolerated by the Tech-Priests or the Skitarii of Macroclade-Alpha. Blasphemy by residents is punishable by sentences in the mines or Servitude Imperpetuitis as a servitor, while heresy and apostasy are punishable by death. Notably for Adeptus of the Mechanicus, the Tech-Priests, Skitarii, and other members of the Cult of Pure Animus are not remotely unsure about conflating the identity of the Omnissiah and the God-Emperor of Mankind, and see the Emperor as the literal embodiment of all knowledge given shape in the blessed form of humanity. The human shape is itself seen as sacred, for it is the vessel the Machine-God has chosen to give unto His chosen race and His avatar, the Emperor of Mankind. Bionics which mimic the form of the natural human form are highly favored by most members of the Cult of Pure Animus. Though each additional arm is considered an improvement on the fallible flesh of humans, the nervous, cardiac, and vascular systems are all considered to be utterly sacrosanct and are only altered with great care and religious reverence. Forge World Ferunus maintains close ties with Azuran's Ordinators chapter and the Inquisitorial Conclave Ordinatorum that reside upon it - even maintaining a small orbital forge over the world itself to provide classified and specialized anti-Chaotic equipment and munitions to the chapter. Each new Machinator (Techmarine) of the Ordinators is required to spend a decade in study on Ferunus after returning from their initial training in Mars, and the Armorius (Master of the Forge) of the chapter is expected to attend twenty additional years of even more specialized training. The result is a particularly strong influence by the culture of Forge World Ferunus in the practice of operating and venerating technology in the Ordinators. Production Output and Capabilities As of 120.M2, gross mining tonnage output on Ferunus exceeds 1,180 kilotonnes per annum. A net of over 790 kilotonnes is utilized per year by the massive forges of the world, primarily the Defensor Mons Forge. An average of over 230 million infantry weapons, 90 million vehicles and aircraft of various types, 80 million heavy weapons systems, 140 million shield systems, 440 million neural implants and bionic limbs, and 20 voidships were produced each year following 110.M42, with production increasing 1-4% a year. Ferunus' uranium, in particular, is known for its particularly high quality of 34%-grade U3O8. Ferunus specializes in the production of energy shielding and neural implants above all else, with the prestigious Akidamia Aegos and Enkephalos (located in the Kolaida Forge and Omnipharmakon, respectively) facilities dedicated to fulltime research of each subject - often handing out missions to the Sarissium Macroclade forces to search for relevant data. Their goals are seen as especially important in counteracting the inherent weaknesses of human physiology to allow the species to gather a complete understanding of all knowledge, and, in particular, an understanding of how to detain, weaken, and neutralize the entities of the Immaterium. Secondarily, the Forge World is in possession of several rare STCs pertaining to various Imperial aircraft las- and plasma-based weaponry and has innovated its own patterns of various lascannons in particular. It is gaining rapid fame among the Adepts of the Mechanicus all the way to Mars for their innovation in the field of neurovault imporvement. The Arch-Magos Biologis-Neuralis Araestes Sophos, working alongside the now Fabricator-General Aressios Olexion developed an improved neurovault implant known as the "Purifier Neurovault Implant Suite" in early M42. The two had discovered a way to very accurately block presynaptic neurotransmitter and hormone vesicle release as well as instantly and artificially induce a reversal of receptor down regulation in cell-cell and endocrine signaling back to homeostatic levels, as well as induce or halt production of new neurotransmitters and hormones. Pain signalling can be blocked in certain model for predetermined durations. The gold and silicon-based wetware allow the user to be automatically to exclusively feeling emotions that inspire the furthering of the Cult Mechanicus and Imperium’s goals and block most of the base, limbic emotional responses that feed the Dark Gods and other warp entities. Both positive and negative emotions were deemed necessary to maintaining a sense of humanity, are are permitted to be felt under the default mode. When its "combat mode" is activated, adrenalin, noradrenalin, dopamine, and smaller amounts of serotonin are released based on cognitive recognition of achieving positive actions such as killing a xeno or heretic, rescuing or repairing a comrade or piece of machinery, and, in particular, achieving victory in battle. "Rest mode" is used to induce forced states of sedation for sleep or anxiolysis and allots a release of γ-aminobutyric acid. "Repentence mode" is used to focus attention on failures of one's duties through a complex neurotransmiter and hormone cocktail ranging from noradrenaline to oxytocin. Various other modes exist. Altogether, it has proven a biologically stable and highly successful augmentation for the Tech-Priests of Ferunus in aiding them in accomplishing their duties. Its export to other Forge Worlds in the Segmentum Pacificus began in 084.M42. Several of its most successful patterns of existing Imperial weaponry and vehicles include the Carcharias-pattern aquatic Lascannon, Hastati-pattern Missile Launcher, Nova-pattern incendiary assault Drop Pods, Heliod-pattern Stormravens, Ferunus-pattern Tarantula Turrets, and the Sunhawk avionics subsystems modification of the Xiphon Interceptor (of which it has come into contact with nearly a hundred despite lacking the ability to produce them). It keeps several of its own patterns to itself and a select few allies within the Adeptus Mechanicus, such as the Ferunus-pattern Radium Carbine, Pistol, and Jezzail - a weapon which delays the full release of radioactive energy until each round fired has struck its target, allowing for an average 34.78% increase in the lifespan of a Vanguard Skitarius. Several more inventions pertaining to warding glyphs and warp containment fields are kept almost exclusively secret between the worlds of Ferunus, Azuran, Banish and the orbital-forge Deimos, orbiting the Grey Knights' homeworld moon of Titan. Military Forces The forge world's military forces consist of a wide variety of types of forces, the mainstay of which is the highly specialized Skitarii Legion Macroclades and their Legio Cybernetica Support. Many other defensive forces exist, however: Skitarii Legion Omega - ' The Skitarii legion of Ferunus is divided into two primary forces and five very large Macroclades of which each constitutes a special-tasks corps. In total, approximately 1,875,000 Skitarii and combat Servitors are in service within the ''Legio Omega ''between the five Macroclades divided equally at any given time. Each Macroclade contains 4 Cohorts, each of which contains 3 Maniples - a common operating unit for the legion, though full cohorts are also deployed at times. The Aegium Macroclades; those tasked with the protection of the Forge World itself, and the Sarrisium Macroclades; tasked with manning Explorator fleets, destroying obstacles of nearly any size to the will of Ferunus, and other missions and crusades to recover lost knowledge the Forge World might undertake. Each Macroclade is assigned a specific "Corps duty" function to execute. Aegium Macroclade Cohorts are occasionally assigned to Sarissium Macroclade duty, and vice versa. Both utilize heavy amounts of Rangers, Vanguard, Sicarians, Ironstrider walkers, and Heavy Neutron Laser and Icarus-Array Onagers, as well as Kastelan robots and Kataphron Battle-Servitors. Legio Omega is well known for its prolific usage of Fury starfighters and Starhawk bombers crewed by well-trained and commanded Skitarii crews as well. The Legion consists of the following units: Aegium Macroclades ''Macroclade Alpha ''(''MC-''Α) - Guardians General Corps'' Macroclade Gamma ''(''MC-''Γ) - ''Menial Control Corps Macroclade Delta ''(''MC-''Δ) - Forge Defense Corps'' Sarrisium Macroclades Macroclade Psi ''(''MC-''Ψ) - '' Extermination Corps Macroclade Omega ''(''MC-''Ω) ''- Explorator Collation-Purgation Corps 'Ordinatus Stratos Ultima -' The Centurio Ordinatus of Forge World Ferunus contains a Maniple-sized crew element of Skitarii Rangers, Peltasts, Tech-Priests, and 6 super-heavy archeotech weapons mounted on treaded chasses. Each is offensively far more powerful than any standard superheavy tank available to Imperial forces, and each god machine is treated with tremendous reverence - its machine spirits appeased daily with offerings of sacred oil, incense, and daily prayers - and only utilized in times of dire need. Each Maniple is divided into 3 Cohorts of 2 Ordinatus weapons. Two are archeotech models brought from Mars in the original colonization, while the remaining four are of a subtype known as the Ordinatus Pyriox created by Forge World Ferunus itself in the Defensor Mons Forge - each protected by powerful void shields, and armed with four twin Mauler-pattern Boltcannons and its primary weapon - a strange weapon that fires like a mortar delivering strange and arcane rounds containing an unknown incendiary substance that seems to create an air pressure change that can produce raging storms of huge light blue fire-whirls that burn hot enough to melt almost any type of armor within meters of each tornado. No more than one Ordinatus Cohort is usually deployed away from the Forge World at any given time. The Stratos Ultima contains the following Ordinati by Cohort: Cohort Lakaidaemika (C-''Λ) ''Daedalos - ''Ordinatus Sagittar ''Byzantia - Ordinatus Pyriox Cohort Athenaia (C-A) Hader - Ordinatus Pyriox Dykaios - Ordinatus Pyriox Cohort Makedonias (C-Ή) Basileus ''- Ordinatus Ulator ''Alexandros - ''Ordinatus Pyriox '''Titan Legion Clipeus -' By far the most powerful ground force of Ferunus, the Titan legion known as Legio Clipeus is led by the Grand Master known as Vasileos Urion. It is not split up into an Aegium or Sarissium formation, and rarely dispatches its God-Machines with the Explorator-Purgation fleet. It is small compared to many Titan legions, and is divided into six Maniples, of which usually only one is away at any given time except in the most dire of circumstances. It consists of the following: Maniple Lambda ''(''MC-''Λ) ''- ''Imperator Titan King of Makedon'', Warlord Titan Kolossus, Warlord Titan Eradicator, ''Warhound Titan ''Machairion, Warhound Titan Thessalian Maniple Zeta ''(''MC-''Η) - '' ''Warlord Titan, Reaver Titan, Reaver Titan, Warhound Titan, Warhound Titan ''Maniple Xi ''(''MC-''Ξ) - '' ''Warlord Titan, Reaver Titan, Reaver Titan ''Maniple Phi ''(''MC-''Φ) ''- ''Warhound Titan, Warhound Titan, Warhound Titan ''Maniple Theta ''(''MC-''Θ) ''- ''Warhound Titan, Warhound Titan, Warhound Titan ''Maniple Upsilon ''(''MC-''Υ) ''- ''Warhound Titan, Warhound Titan, Warhound Titan = '''Quaestor-House Thoden -' A once-homeless Knightly House which was once threatened with extinction following the subsumption of their homeworld in the Cicatrix Maledictum where they were brutalized by the Iron Warriors and Dark Mechanicus forces which was invited by the Triumvirate of the Fabricators to resettle in safety on the world in safety. It has taken to the cause of the Ferunum Omega Dagger Directive and the Cult of Pure Animus with zealous fervor. The House was restored with the help of Tech-Priest Enginseers and Arch Magi from Forge World Urdesh - allowing the wreckage of over 130 Knight frames were repaired to functionality. Though this has left them at less than a third of their previous strength, they have accepted this aid with tremendous gratitude and devoted themselves to the Omega Dagger Directive since learning of its true intent. The members of the house fervently observe the rites and rituals of the Cult of Pure Animus with zealous dedication. At least a third of the house are constantly crusading with the Sarissium Macroclades at any given time, providing the Skitarii Legions with mobile superheavy weapons support in almost any large engagement. It consists of the following: * 1 Knight Valiant * 4 Knight Castellans * 2 Knight Porphyrions * 26 Knight Paladins * 28 Knight Errants * 38 Knight Warglaives * 36 Knight Armigers 'Stoliskos Omega - ' The two-part armada of Forge World Ferunus. Like the Skitarii, it is divided into two Stolos (fleets): an Aegium and and Sarissium, where the former comprises roughly 40% of the voidcraft of the Forge World while the latter operates as two powerful fleets capable of independent missions or combining for one, massive fleet that spend most of their time away pursuing the Quest for Knowledge - though either Sarissium Epilarkia (Squadron) may be requisitioned for duty in the Ferunus sub-sector or Azuran sector at any time. It consists of the following: Aegium Stolos Epilarkia Alpha ''(''ST-''Α) - Orbital Patrol Fleet'' * 1 Ark Mechanicus * 6 Emperor-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 4 Retribution-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 12 Mechanicus Standard Cruisers * 14 Lunar-class Cruisers (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 20 Mechanicus Standard Light Cruisers * 6 Universe-class Mass Conveyers (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 6 Imperial Troop Transports (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) Epilarkia Gamma ''(ST-''Γ) - Sector Patrol & Segmentum Courier Fleet * 4 Emperor-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 2 Oberon-class Battleships 2 Emperor-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Modified Retrofit) * 4 Retribution-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 6 Mechanicus Standard Cruisers * 8 Lunar-class Cruisers (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 8 Tyrant-class Cruisers ((Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 28 Mechanicus Standard Light Cruisers * 12 Universe-class Mass Conveyers (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 16 Imperial Heavy Transports (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 8 Imperial Troop Transports (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) Sarrisium Stolos Epilarkia Omega ''(''ST-''Ω) ''- Explorator Fleet * 1 Ark Mechanicus * 1 Emperor-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 2 Retribution-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 2 Oberon-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 6 Mechanicus Standard Cruisers * 4 Lunar-class Cruisers (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 16 Mechanicus Standard Light Cruisers * 4 Universe-class Mass Conveyers * 32 Imperial Troop Transports (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 6 Imperial Heavy Transports (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) Epilarkia'' Psi (''ST-''Ψ) - '' Explorator/Purgation Fleet * 1 Ark Mechanicus * 4 Emperor-class Battleships(Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 4 Retribution-class Battleships (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 5 Mechanicus Standard Cruisers * 2 Lunar-class Cruisers (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 2 Tyrant-class Cruisers (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 22 Mechanicus Standard Light Cruisers * 32 Imperial Troop Transports (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) * 4 Imperial Heavy Transports (Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Retrofit) 'HOPLON MESH Network -' HOPLON MESH is an interconnected planetary defense grid that covers the entirety of the Forge World with some way or another. Orbital mines, held in place in between two gravitational repulsor fields, cover most areas except specific entry and exit lanes used by voidship traffic between Ferunus and the rest of the Imperium. Massive hexagonal shield generators linked by anti-voidship and point defense turrets interlock in great, expansive blocks that cover areas the size of continents at specific regions of the atmosphere that overhang the most populated and strategically important places on the Forge World. Within the manned sections of the MESH network, entire generations of menials live and die in colossal tunnels connecting the various shield generators and defense hubs while Tech-Priests and Skitarii may find themselves living in the walls of the latticework defense net for decades at a time - maglev trains running ammunition and personnel from junction to junction and resupplying from huge docks facing the planet itself. Massive networks of nanofiber cables utilizing disruptor field technology stretch across most of the rest of the network beneath the mine layer to shred apart ships as tiny as small shuttles trying to illicitly land on the world's surface. Those ships that pass through powerful enough to plow ahead and snap the cables will may find themselves detonating the tripwires for massive nuclear charges set at both predictable and random points in the HOPLON MESH. Powerful defensive stations are set into orbits that see them rotating over major facilities and underground mag-rail tunnels, and patrols of Fury Interceptors and Sunhawk Bombers often patrol various areas of interest. The nexus of the HOPLON MESH Planetary Defense Network is a star-fortress known as Fist of the Omnissiah, dwarfing Imperial battleships in size and exceeding it in armament, voidshields, and armour plating - it can reach even the opposite side of the planet with its advanced cogitator-guided fission and melta missiles. Anything within its line of sight can expect to be raked with Hecutor-pattern Plasma Macrocannonades and Ferunus-pattern Neutron Lance Projector fire in quantities capable of destroying a Desolator-class Battleship in less than 20 minutes even without fleet support, its massive plasma generators capable of providing the enormous energy needs to sustain such a bombardment being kept safely underneath it facing the planet in a heavily armored compartment. Combat Doctrine The Skitarii Legion of Ferunus is the most often deployed of its various forces, Macroclade-Omega in particular. More than most Forge World Skitarii Legions, they make use of large transports such as the Devourer-class dropship to transport their forces from battlefield to battlefield, often deploying units in swarms of Skorpius Duneriders around the periphery of targets to advance at a predetermined pace under both indirect fire support and the cover of Skorpius Disintegrators (generally utilizing the Belleros Energy Cannon mortar for short range indirect fire support) and Onager Dunecrawlers generally armed with Neutron Lascannons. Sicarian Infiltrators always act as the scouts and initial force deployment of any Macroclade deployed into open battle, sometimes setting up days in advance to prepare to ambush the foe right as the fire of the rest of the Skitarii begins. Combat from long distance is preferred, with heavy use made of Transauranic Arquebusier snipers, Ballistari Ironstrider Cognis Lascannons and Onager Neutron Lasers. Foes that charge in find themselves met with plasma, phosphor, galvanic, and radium fire that increases exponentially as they close the distance. Squadrons of Sydonian Dragoons charge in as stalking teams of Sicarian Infiltrators leap upon the foe from every flank as the firepower of the Macroclade continues to tear apart the enemy. Those who attempt to out-shoot the Skitarii will find their lines riven with powerswords and tasergoads as swaths of the Sicarian Infiltrators wreak havoc through the lines and the Ferunum forces advance to position themselves at a distance capable of unleashing their full fury. Personnel of Note * Fabricator-General Aressios Olexion: The current Senior Triumvir of Ferunus and the man responsible for the tremendous growth of both production output and the aggressive accumulation of knowledge of the warp held in the Aetherium's archives through skilled strategic campaigns to recover data from various living and extinct alien civilization worlds and voidstations. He rose up over 1,300 years from a simple Legio Omega Tech-Priest Secutor into his current position through his courage, piety, and wisdom - earning near universal respect among all his peers for his devotion to the Quest for Knowledge and its use for the good of mankind. Though little of his original human body remains, he insists on the peculiar quirk of retaining several base biologically compelled habits (such as a form of eating real food through tubes lined with G-protein-based synthetic taste receptors and the drinking of sugary beverage brands popular throughout the Imperium) to retain connections with the rest of his species. * Fabricator-Syntir Olysseia Orpheus * Fabricator-Ziton Klymene Lazarus * Lesser Fabricator-Locum Demitrios Neikos * Arch-Magos Biologis-Neuralis Araestes Sophos * Arch-Magos Dominus Nikes Galanos: A renowned data-compositor and favored Skitarii and Titan Legion Commander of the Fabricator-Ziton Lazarus. He is well-respected by the military forces of Ferunus for his tactical and strategic acumen, disinclination towards taking casualties lightly, zeal for service to the Omnissiah, and willingness to fight alongside his forces along the front lines - never failing to collect, collate, and analyze battle-data in real time (even as he fights) to maximize force efficiency, with the help of a specialized suite of neural sensory-analytical nexus data vault implants. Having taken many wounds in service to the Machine God accompanying Macroclade-Omega in its never-ending crusade, he has only grown in fervor and stature among the most faithful of the Tech-Priests and Skitarii of Ferunus. * OR-719: Archmagos Galanos' loving and loyal personal bodyguard "automaton" (in reality a Man of Iron with a severely dysfunctional cogitator who believes himself to be a true Legio Cybernetica robot) who is never seen away from his "master's" side in battle or out. He has accrued a level of respect and even affection among the Skitarii of Macroclade-Psi for his seemingly high intelligence for a data-wafer-programmed cybernetica robot and love of quoting hundreds of Cult Mechanicus psalms and proverbs that boost morale among the fighting men of Legio Omega. * Arch-Magos Veneratus Biologis-Xenologis * Magos-Explorator Hodopoios Kontos Forges, Data-Vaults, & Extraction Sites '''Ontol Mons Forge The first and most prestigious forge of Ferunus is built centered into the "Ontol Mons" - a mountain four times as large as the famous Terran "Everest Mountain" in the Himalazyian range that houses the Imperial Palace itself. The fleet of the founders was repurposed into the first machines and defensive fortifications for the forge, and remnants of the hulls of several ships can still be made out among the forge's skyline. Stretching kilometers into the air and more than 30km below the surface (a large percentage of the way through the crust) and across nearly all of the slopes as well as hundreds more kilometers outwards into the rest of the Ontoligos mountain range, it is a truly immense city-factory. It is primarily responsible for the production of specialized and highly advanced Imperial and Mechanicus weapons, armor, munitions, vehicles, aircraft, and parts of voidcraft to be assembled in orbital drydocks either above the Forge World or in the Azuran Sub-Sector with the Imperial Navy Star Fortress. It is known for the high quality of its las and plasma weaponry (frequently utilizing patterns adopted from Ryza), but is primarily renowned for its mastery of the art and science of fabricating Imperial energy shielding - particularly refractor and conversion fields. It serves as the seat for the Fabricator-General and is the meeting place for the Triumvirate of the Greater Fabricators. Defensor Mons Forge Built into the large Defensores mountain range and nearby tundra, the Defensor Mons forge takes up an area the size of a small country and acts as the most productive forge of the entire world, as well as its most populous. It is the primary hub of fabrication for weapons and vehicle production for the wider Imperium - especially the Arothi Storm Guard regiments, the Ordinators chapter, and Battlefleet Azuran, to whom they act as nearly the sole supplier of each. The majority of their war material produced here is shipped out to the Astra Militarum, Adeptus Astartes, Adepta Sororitas, and Imperial Navy throughout the Segmentums Pacificus and Solar, however. So important is their task, the furnaces and production lines of Defensor Mons run 24/7, 364 days a year, with only the day of the Omnissiah's Ascension to the Golden Throne allowed as a day off for menials and Tech-Priests. It serves as the seat of the Fabricator-Locum. Koilada Forge Created near the center of the city-facility nexus, Kolaida Forge is the smallest but most innovative of the three forges of Ferunus. The source of production for the many types, models, and sizes of energy (and warp) shielding crafted by the Artificers of the Forge World, Koilada is one of the rare places in the Imperium where experimentation occurs daily (though the Tech-Priests of the forge are careful not to stray into blatant tech-heresy in doing so). Improvements to existing designs are planned almost annually, no matter how small. Entirely new technology is occasionally created as well - primarily new types of neural implants to both improve the efficiency and efficacy of the minds of Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus, though many are created for medical purposes for the wider Imperium as well to help treat neurodegenerative diseases and dysfunction. The Aetherium The center of all warp-centric research for Forge World Ferunus and perhaps the most crucial place on the entire world to support the shadowy Omega Dagger Directive. A massive void shield and a strange, shimmering green spherical field surround the walls - the field flickering on and off at various times for anywhere from seconds to weeks at a time. Spires stretch kilometers into the low atmosphere and and over 12km below. Thousands of Tech-Priests of various orders and specialties - all upper ranking members of the Cult of Pure Animus - work night and day, every day, to better understand how to contain and neutralize warp energies and entities. Many of the containment and protective warding glyphs used by the Ordinators are discovered within its halls, as well as experiments done with live daemons in containment chambers in the deepest levels - a secret so terrible that only facility's upper cadres, the Inquisitors of the Conclave Ordinatorum within the Black Citadel,and the Triumvirate of the Greater Fabricators know of their existence. Xeno technology (primarily Aeldari and Necron) are studied under the premise of "replicating" lost human knowledge from the Dark Age of Technology to learn how to better contain and combat the forces of Chaos and the warp, and many hundreds of mortal and Traitor Astartes servants of the Dark Gods are kept as prisoners for purposes ranging from vivisection to observe physical corruption and mutation to lobotomies performed to eliminate the sources of emotions that feed the Dark Gods. The work here is not done with glee by its inhabitants as many of the Magi of Stygies undertake their own work divergent from the 16 Universal Laws of the Adeptus Mechanicus, but with a grudging resignation to the idea of its utter necessity. Deepest within its chambers, many kilometers below the surface, is a massive set of pure silver doors etched with thousands of lines of script and bearing the sigil of the Ferunum Omega Dagger holding something within it so secretive that only the Greater Fabricators and Lord Inquisitor of the Conclave Ordinatum even know of is existence. It is here that both the potential damnation and salvation of Forge World Ferunus lies. If the goals of the Omega Dagger Directive are successful, it could change the nature of reality. If it fails, it will be the doom of the Azuran Sector, if not much of the Segmentums Pacificus and Solar. The Black Citadel An imposing Inquisitorial fortress set along the oceanic coast that connects to the Aquagenesor. It contains part of the Conclave Ordinatorum including Inquisitors from the Ordo Mechanicum, Ordo Malleus, Ordo Sepulturum, and Ordo Xenos. Void shields, Aquila macrocannons, and atomic missile battery silos line its thick ramparts - manned by two entire regiments of Inquisitorial Tempestus Scions that are never deployed from the walls of the facility. They are constantly seen training in and around the Citadel, but otherwise have no contact with the rest of the Ferunum population. The only residents to interact with the Tech-Priests of the Forge World are the Inquisitors themselves, and even then, only in great secrecy. To anyone with knowledge of the Citadel, it would seem that their defenses are intended more to strike at the Mechanicus Adepts of the world than any possible outward foe. The Asterios Redoubt The primary military garrison for the Skitarii Legio Omega and Titan Legio Clipeus as well as Ordinatus Stratos Ultima. Approximately half of the forge world's military forces man the Redoubt at any one moment, each utilizing their time there to undergo constant, intensive periods of training lasting months or even years for some unit types and training regimens. Extremely advanced holotech and pre-fabricated training environments is used to create realistic simulated combat training scenarios, alongside many firing ranges for everything from Galvanic Rifles to Titan Volcano Rifles. A military Schola trains all Skitarii, Ordinatus, and Titan crews for their initial training as well. Additionally, the Asterios Redoubt is equipped with titanic anti-voidship Magnaneutron Laser Annihilator Cannon batteries as well as both Fusion and Vortex Missile launch silos capable of destroying threats ranging from ground-based armies anywhere on the planet to attacking battleships in orbit. Castle Thoden An isolated redoubt hidden within a mountain range more than 3,300km from Ontol Mons, Castle Thoden functions as a small fiefdom for the Mechanicus-aligned Quaestor House of Thoden. Its over 130 Knight frames are garrisoned in the remote Castle, and its pilots train religiously for the moments when the Forge World calls upon them to repay its debt to the Ferunum. House Thoden also maintains its own prometheum refineries as well as iron, tin, copper and ruby mines on the land gifted to it, as well as producing foodstuffs within biodomes-towns along the periphery of the mountains the Castle itself is located in - giving it a way to achieve financial stability and maintain its Knight war engines. Several tens of thousands of menials are indentured to the House for various reasons, and work its lands and mines - though the Knights of House Thoden are known for being far more compassionate than the taskmasters of Macroclade-Gamma in the Ferunum mines. 'Mine Anilipsium' Considered the least unpleasant of the primary mining city-complexes of Ferunus by the menials who have worked at more than one - Mine Anilipsium is a sprawling, enclosed facility stretching deep into diamond and sapphires found in colossal quantities spread throughout the crust of the planet, it is constantly under construction as more and more shafts are opened to reach the deposits as well as more recently discovered copper veins. It produces vast quantities of key raw materials used for diamantine, ceramite, and electroconductive wire through primarily servitor and automaton labor. It’s alumina production (a crucial compound used in the production of ceramite) exceeds the output of the nearest three Imperial Sectors combined - a result of its sapphire processing. Fabricator-General Olexius has calculated its present output quota as being maintainable for at least 13 more centuries based on known reserves in the massive planet. A massive tunnel into the planetary mantle is being mined to create a massive geothermal powerhub for the world as of 120.M42. Mine Timoria Uranium, aluminum, calcium, and phosphorous are the primary solid elements mined in this location, and several tonnes of auramite are produced each year here. Several noble gasses and reagents for chemical weapons are also collected from deep subterranean deposits as well. The death rate among menials and servitors working in the gas deposits are high, and there is daily turnover within the servile workforce. Miners who commit moderate infractions in Anilipsium are frequently transported to Timoria, as well as criminals such as murderers and minor blasphemers imported from offworld. A massive underground mag-rail freight train system connects Timoria, Anilipsium, and several outlying hubs in Mons Mors to Ontol Mons Forge with the line's primary junction located just under the surface of the center of the complex. Mons Mors Mine Also known as the ”Trimeta” by the Underhive Mining Deck dwellers of the mobile, tracked Panzerholdt Hive Cities of Ferunus' moon of Aroth rotating Ferunus (and generally spoken of as a fate worse than death among them). The Mon Mors facility is an adamantium, silicon, and iron mining complex the size of a small nation built into a huge mountain range emerging from the largest extra-continental island of the world - Mons Mors serves as the harshest penal mine on Ferunus for human criminals (often taken from within the Azuran Sector, particularly the Hiveworld of Aroth) and captives taken in battle against worlds that have fallen from Imperial compliance in the possession of valuable archeotech and STCs, or, worse, those who have impeded the efforts of Ferunus' shadowy Omega Dagger Directive exploratory and retrieval missions. Mortality is high, and each prisoner's mining production is tracked under the watch of cold and uncaring Skitarii Vanguard, Rangers, Sicarian Ruststalkers, and Robotica of the Gamma Macroclade - the Menial Control Corps. Thousands of prisoners are shipped in and hundreds of dead are recycled into mineral reclamation vats on site every week. The bottom 10% of producers in any given production month are turned into servitors, while the top 10% are permitted to join the Skitarii Legion of Forge World Ferunus. It is a bleak and brutal place, but offers a steady source of hardened and brutal troops to thank the Omnissiah for their liberation by fighting in his name. Omnipharmakon A colossal domed metropolis-sized facility where hundreds of square kilometers of tiered, genetically-modified farmland are tended by servitors and menials to produce the raw material for the nutrient block and gel rations that sustain the inhabitants of the Forge World, as well as thousands of species of flora from across the Imperium (and even now-extirpated Terran plants) from which medically useful alkaloids and other pharmacologically active chemical constituents are extracted, refined, and distributed among the Arch Magi Biologis of the world, and Medicae and Apothecaries of many others throughout the Azuran Sector and Segmentum Pacificus. Synthetic drugs are also developed and discovered in massive Alchemia Manufactoria facilities. It is notable for being one of the most restrictive facilities on the world to gain access to due to the need for sterility, with Skitarii Vanguard and other servants of the Machine-God who serve under the affliction of baleful rad energies being prohibited from entry. A widely respected Schola-Collegium is located in a campus within the facility, with some of the most talented Magi Biologis, Hospitallers, and Medicae from all over the Imperium being invited to teach and study there regularly. Omnicillin, seraphine and gigaphazepam are the most produced medications made in the Omnipharmakon - all three drugs being crucial to battlefield medicine and surgical induction and post-operative care. It is the seat of Arch-Magos Biologis-Neuralis Araestes Sophos. The increasingly common "Bloodscrubber" injection solutions that neutralize drugs within the bloodstream are being used across various parts of the Imperium to counteract poisons and other chems on the battlefield by medics and by Arbites and planetary Enforcers alike for varying purposes are also primarily produced here. Aquagenesor The primary source of potable water for over a third of a billion people. It is a desalination plant the size of a small nation along the coast of one of the warmer continental ocean coasts due to problematic micropathogens present in the inland freshwater lakes. Water mag-lev freight trains run over 9,000km to the junction at Mine Timoria twice daily, each carrying hundreds of millions of liters of water to be distributed to the potable water supply tanks of each forge and facility. It is overseen by a relatively benevolent committee of Magi, Logi, and Enginseers and is considered a highly desirable post by menials for its merely 12 hour working days, relatively comfortable barracks, and rations supplemented by seafood caught by the menials in their 4 hours of permitted free time each day. Forge World Relations Allies The Ordinators chapter and Conclave Ordinatum are Ferunus' primary allies in achieving their true ends and protecting their home sector, each sharing a hidden purpose that overlaps with the other. Forge Worlds Stygies, Urdesh, and Graia are also major allies to Ferunus, with more limited collaboration occurring with Mars and Ryza. Enemies The Knights of Laeran are a bitter enemy for Forgeworld Ferunus after a series of brutal void battles over recovering damaged Ordinator voidship wrecks that led to the deaths of several tens of thousands. The Ashen Maulers have been a frequent threat, though the Ferunum hold the disorganized raiders in low regard as a force of individually poor capability. The Iron Warriors, Tau Empire, Craftworld Aeldari, and Necrons (particularly of the Odgobekh Dynasty ) are all sworn enemies of the Ferunum - with the latter two often the subject of predations by the Ferunus Sarissium Macroclades and fleets in order to acquire technology for examination as well as the purgation of the species and their worlds and voidships in general. Quotes by Forge World Ferunus Quotes about Forge World Ferunus Wars and Crusades *'The Cleansing of Gaion (892-896.M38)' - Drawn to a forgotten feudal world lost since the early days of the Great Crusade in the Western fringe of the Segmentum Pacificus by visions experienced by Arcanus Eldricus of Cohort V, the Ordinators set out to destroy an ancient warp artifact foreseen to play an apocalyptic role for several Imperial sectors if left unchecked. Upon making planetfall, it is discovered that the planet is deeply involved in a one-sided war between the reanimated minions and sorceror-adepts of an ancient xeno warp entity known as the "God of Dark Moons" and a small, beleaguered population of iron-age human feudal kingdoms who have turned to various false gods or daemonic warp entities for salvation from the tide of the dead and the sorcery of their common foe. The portion of the population still dedicated to a (devolved) version of the Imperial Cult is saved and rehabilitated, while all other cultures are destroyed with fire, bolt, and blade along with the God of Dark Moons, his reanimated armies, and the fell artifact that was the source of his tremendous power within the Materium. Forge World Ferunus' Macroclade Omega along with Explorator-Stolos Kathanazos and the Arothi Storm Guards' 77th, 102nd, and 144th Siege regiments arrive to mop up resistance in the closing stages of the world, with the Forces of Ferunus sent to the warp-tainted land of Nordon beyond the Western continent of Occiton’s psychically warded Grand Bulwark wall stretching across the continent to recover data on the God of Dark Moons and his fell legions after their defeat. *'The Gerrhae War (993.M41-998.M41)' - A Tzeentchian Warband, the Host of the Unending Tower, begins a war by seizing a tome of dark knowledge of the warp held by the Ordinators chapter of the Adeptus Astartes en route to Titan and proceeds to engulf the adjacent Gerrhae Sector in a 5 year long war that is spearheaded by the specialized anti-Chaos chapter. Their speed in dislodging the exponentially growing Chaos threat is due in large part to the fleet actions of the Sarissium Stolos fleet - led by the Ark Mechanicus helmed by the Fabricator-Ziton, Factor Obliteratus. Whole fleets of corrupted, techno-heretical ships are obliterated piecemeal by the roving Nova Cannon-armed Stolos Omega voidships. The surviving, routing survivors of any engagement inevitably killed off in their entirety by constant bombardment with colossal radstorm bombs. Though the Ferunum force is slower to move than the Ordinators' rapid attack fleet, the constant, brutal harassment of Stolos Omega proves to be a major factor in cutting off resupply lines to the Chaos Space Marine forces. By the time the Battle of Bellator - the sector capital of Gerrhae - is finished, the Skitarii of Legio Omega had landed on the ruined, radioactive fortress-world and prove themselves to be excellent hunters of the scattered Chaos cultists and mutants that escaped destruction at the hands of the Ordinators. The legions of Ferunus spend the last year of the war finishing the hunt for the heretical survivors and exterminating them with the use of their Rangers and Sydonian Dragoons in the sandy wastelands alongside their Vanguard troops capable of surviving the radioactive ruins of the cities in short range house-to-house fighting in the wrecks of the citadel-metropoli left shattered by the initial fighting. *'Thendarr Reclamation War (098-102.M42)' - The Thendarr Reclamation War was an invasion of the Vior'yth (and secondarily, a conflict with the neighbouring Ci'haan Sept) which was undertaken by Legion Omega of Forgeworld Ferunus for multiple purposes, including reclaiming several valuable STCs left in the ruins of Manufactoria, collection of intelligence on emerging Tau warp drive technology, and collection of Tau specimens for biological warfare initiatives. *'The Ci'haan Incursion (005.M42)- '''In the course of the Invasion of Vior'yth, Tau communications were intercepted by Macroclade Psi of the Omega Legion indicating that the vile Earth Caste researchers of the Tau Ci’haan Sept were found to be working on an experimental Warp-Drive. Upon learning of this - and unaware that such projects were occurring in multiple Tau systems/Septs simultaneously, the Macroclade's Prime Cohort was sent on an extermination and data seizure mission. The significantly larger fleet of ''Epilarkia Ps''i tore through the defenses of the Ci'haan Sept world of P'ktor, the least populated planet of the system that contained Ci'haan's most sensitive Earth Caste labs. The forces of the commanding Magos Reductor, Amphion, launched devastating, synergistically-functioning experimental weapons including gamma radiation bombs and retroviral weapons (designed to impair bodily functions making the former type on the city even more deadly) surrounding the research facility in order to soften resistance and gather combat data on the new weapons. Any of the xenos that were not hidden beneath the ground in environmentally sealed and well protected bunkers died within the first hour of the incursion as the capital city of P’ktor was 94% exterminated, proving the weapons' outstanding efficacy and setting the benchmark for future biological [[:w:c:warhammer40k:Exterminatus|''Exterminatus]] protocols. After neutralizing the orbital defenses, and with a clear path to land, they deployed to the ground and assaulted the primary research center -Although the Ferunum forces failed to destroy the experimental warp drive and all related data they did succeed downloading critical classified data of the project in the process and corrupting several key components of the project's software network with self-replicating binaric data-eater programs that prevented the creation of a model of warp drive which would have created serious risk of creating warp tears and surges as well as offering the Tau tremendous travel range. Capturing the Ethereal administrator of the facility for interrogation, they began their withdrawal. Although the Magos Reductor was slain in the process, the Ferunum forces escaped after seizing copies of all data, corrupting critical components that could have led to the creation of warp rifts, and captured their Aun'O Ethereal master. The force quickly returned to the main body in Vior'yth, providing a distractionary invasion of a world in the latter Sept that proved to allow the Reclamation of Thendarr to succeed. Gallery File:Ferunum_Skitarii_fight_Tyranids_invading_the_Ice-World_of_Eartarssos.png|Ferunum Skitarii fight Tyranids invading the Ice-World of Gaion. Category:Adeptus Mechanicus Category:Ferunus Category:Forge Worlds Category:Imperial Planets Category:Imperium Category:Planets Category:Ordinators (Chapter) Category:Pact of the Sword of Fire